


you were scared

by bananannabeth



Series: things you said when... [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 02:15:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13261488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bananannabeth/pseuds/bananannabeth
Summary: Percy knows that Annabeth has always had a fear of abandonment, but he never thought that it would apply to him.





	you were scared

 

Percy dropped his sword, breathing heavily. “Good form.” **  
**

Jason nodded, making an expression that looked like it could be a smile, if only he could catch his breath. “You too,” he said, swinging his arm around to stretch his shoulder joint.

 

Percy laughed breathlessly and capped Riptide, tucking it into the pocket of his shorts and shrugging his armour over his head. He glanced over to the side, where Piper and Annabeth usually sat on sunny days while the boys sparred. Today their seats were empty.

 

“Hey, have you seen the girls?”

 

Jason frowned and pushed his glasses up his nose. “No, actually, I haven’t seen them since breakfast.”

 

The boys shared a look. Both Piper and Annabeth going missing was never a good sign; it usually led to plotting events that involved the boys doing a lot of heavy lifting, like expanding the arena… or worse, helping with a camp wide talent show.

 

“You take that side I’ll take this side?” Jason offered, putting away his armour.

 

Percy nodded. “Report back here in an hour?”

 

“Deal.”

 

With an affirmative nod, the two boys turned and took off in opposite directions, searching for their girlfriends.

 

Percy wandered throughout the camp for twenty minutes, waving to campers as he passed and asking if anyone knew were the girls were. No one had seen them, which meant that whatever they were talking about was time consuming and secretive indeed.

 

Curiosity piqued, Percy made his way to the beach. Just before he reached the top of the dunes, he heard two female voices talking quietly. He slowed his pace and crept up the slope, close enough to hear the conversation but not so close that they’d catch him.

 

Piper’s voice rang out clearly, her words light hearted. “What are you so afraid of?”

 

“I don’t even know how to explain it,” Annabeth said, quieter.

 

Percy frowned. Annabeth rarely admitted to not knowing things. His stomach twisted; he realised suddenly that maybe this wasn’t light hearted fun, maybe the girls were actually talking about something serious. He went to retreat, leaving them to it, when the sound of Annabeth saying his name made him freeze.

 

“Percy’s just so excited, you know. And I am too, of course I am, but I just -”

 

There was a pause. Piper said, “Go on.”

 

Annabeth groaned. “I’m so scared, Pipes. I’m terrified. This is such a big step, and I want to do it, of course I do, but what if… What if he leaves me?”

 

Percy’s eyes widened. He had absolutely no idea what his girlfriend was talking about. He quickly scanned through his memories, trying to pick out something he could have done to make her even consider that possibility. He came up blank.

 

Piper sounded as incredulous as he felt. “What? Annabeth, that’s not even a possibility. The boy literally followed you into Tartarus.”

 

“But this is different, this isn’t us fighting for our lives, this is us living our lives, together and -”

 

“And isn’t that everything you’ve ever wanted?”

 

“Of course it is, and that’s why I’m so scared of losing it!” Annabeth’s voice broke. “Everyone always leaves, Piper, no one’s ever wanted to live with me before - my own parents abandoned me, if they couldn’t stand living with me how can Percy?”

 

His heart panged. He didn’t understand how Annabeth could think like that - of course he wanted to live with her, of course he wanted to wake up to her beautiful face in the bed beside him every morning, of course he wanted them to mess up their little kitchen cooking dinner together and fall asleep on their couch and fight over whose turn it was to do the laundry. He wanted all of that, more than he’d wanted anything ever before, and he’d thought he’d made that clear to her.

 

Apparently not.

 

Piper was cooing, probably charmspeaking. “Hey, the boy’s mad about you. He’s not going to leave you. How could he? He loves you, and it’s obvious that he can’t wait to move in with you.”

 

“But what if he gets sick of me?” Annabeth sounded so small and sad, Percy almost launched himself over the dunes and tackled her in a hug.

 

Piper laughed. “That is never going to happen. I promise you. And if he ever does happen to try, I’ll talk some sense into him.”

 

Annabeth huffed out a laugh. “Reassuring, thank you.”

 

There was a pause, and Percy wondered if they’d be suspicious if he appeared now. When the girls stayed silent, he took a deep breath and straightened up, strolling over the dunes and trying to look innocent.

 

“There you are!” he called out, smiling. “We were starting to get worried.”

 

“We leave for a few hours and Camp falls apart, is that what you’re telling us?” Piper called back, teasing.

 

“That’s exactly it.” Percy settled down on the sand beside Annabeth.

 

She flashed him a small smile, but didn’t quite meet his eye.

 

“Well, I’m going to go make sure you haven’t made too much of a mess,” Piper said emphatically. She stood, dusted some sand off her shorts and gave Annabeth a pointed look as she walked away.

 

As soon as she was gone, Annabeth knocked her knees against Percy’s and said, “How much did you hear?”

 

“What? No, I didn’t hear anything…” He faltered under her glare. “Okay, I might have heard a bit. Maybe.”

 

“What did you hear?”

 

He took a deep breath. “That you’re scared about moving in with me.”

 

“That’s not what I said -”

 

“Well it’s the only thing that makes sense,” he replied. “Because there’s no chance of me ever leaving you, so you can’t be scared of that.”

 

She huffed, but when he reached for her hand she didn’t pull away. “You can’t say that, Percy. You’ve never lived with me full time, you don’t know if you’ll get sick of me -”

 

He laughed, which didn’t impress her. “Annabeth, seriously. Stop. I’m never going to get sick of you. I loved you even when you hated me -”

 

“I’ve never hated you.”

 

“That’s a lie.”

 

“There were a few times where I didn’t like you very much…”

 

“Well I’ve loved you even when you didn’t like me very much. Even when I didn’t like you very much. I’ve never left you before, and I don’t plan on doing it now.”

 

She still didn’t look convinced. Her mouth was scrunched up and she still wouldn’t meet his eye.

 

Percy cupped her chin in his hand and forced her to look at him. “Annabeth. I want to live with you, and I’m gonna keep on wanting to live with you for the rest of my life. I promise.”

 

She finally smiled. “You think you can put up with me?”

 

He pulled her in for a quick kiss, smiling against her lips. “The real question is, do you think you can put up with me?”

 

“I’m willing to try, as long as you stop eavesdropping,” she joked.

 

Percy went to reply, but before he had a chance, Annabeth deepened the kiss. And it was hard to worry about things when the love of your life was kissing you. 

 

 


End file.
